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Old 08-16-2008, 01:14 PM
 
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Some of the stuff posted on the BBQ thread got me to thinking of an idea for a new thread which might be both funny and interesting. That is, share your experiences with "yankees" (whether they down here or you up there) the first time they tried traditional Texas/Southern food stuffs. Let me pause for a minute and post a few comments from the other thread which give the general idea:

Quote:
tstone wrote: I've been told this by a native but well-travelled NYC'er who now lives in SE TX... The perception about catfish being Southern trash food is definitely alive and well up there. This was his perception too, until he tried it. Now it is one of his most favorite fish platters, and he'll take it from the first step of catching it from the river, to the last step of eating it. Fried, blackened, grilled, whatever.
Quote:
Cathy wrote: I do understand what you mean about your SO. I worked on mine for years, and HE was an Indiana Yankee!!! Believe me, that's much worse than any Coloradoan ever thought about being!!!

I finally got him to the point where he didn't complain so much about the spiciness. I finally understood where he was coming from when I visited IN/IL.

BLAND food!!! Really bland!!! Pore thangs!!!
Quote:
Lonestar2007 wrote: Cathy, I can relate to your comment about the bland food. My ex was from Illinois and I finally just asked him... JUST WHAT DO you people eat? He replied, meat (mostly pork) corn, green beans and potatoes. I had never really thought about it but I know when we'd go visit his Mom, that's just about what was served. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans or maybe meat loaf, potatoes and corn. They thought okra was a weed! They thought blackeyed peas was cow feed!
So far as my own go? Oh man, one of those where do I start things! LOL

My ex-wife (kids' mother) was from Kansas, a previous lady friend was from Ohio, and my present g/f is from Colorado. The common denominator with all (whether themselves or with their kin/friends when visiting them) is that black-eyed peas, okra, and catfish (and the understanding of what true BBQ is), were items which ranged from never having heard of it (okra, mostly) to thinking of all as being something so far off the radar screen from their own perspective as to be fare (and NOT complimentary, either!) from a foriegn country! LOL

For instance, my "SO" today, told me (she gets a kick out of these threads of ours) said that while she had HEARD of all of them when growing up in Colorado, that it just wasn't served there. The general consensus was that all were just "yucky sounding" and something only people from the South ate! When she joined the Navy, she was stationed in Mississippi at one time, but still never tried any of it for the same reasons. (BTW -- I did NOT strangle her for such sentiments, but the thought crossed my mind...! LOL).

Anyway, it was only when she moved to Texas (as was true of the other ladies I mentioned) that they actually tried it for themselves. And ALL came to LOVE each and every one.

Now when up there? Wellll, there were mixed reactions with some of their bunch. The fried okra I ran out of quickly because they all liked it so much. The black-eyed peas were generally liked. Catfish? Well, I never introduced them to that one while up there. Couldn't find it! LOL

What I REALLY should have done was taken them some grits and greens. That'd fix 'em, huh? *grins*

Tell y'alls stories...

Last edited by TexasReb; 08-16-2008 at 02:20 PM..
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Old 08-16-2008, 03:01 PM
 
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Well, I've already mentioned the okra and blackeyed peas, so on to some more topics here. The first time I ever said anything about eating frog legs to a yankee, you should have seen the reaction. I never convinced them that I wasn't pulling their leg. I told them we would go down at night to the tank or maybe I should say stock tank (maybe should say pond for the yankees who might be reading this so they'll know what I'm talking about) and we'd carrry a flashlight and gig frogs. My daddy would clean the legs, cut the ligaments in them (otherwise, they'll jump right out of the frying pan ) and mother would fry them up, No sriree bob, I never convinced those yankees that this was for real. They continued thinking I was just making up tall tales.

I've always been somewhat of a kidder, so they never knew when I was telling the truth or stretching it some, but this has happened more than once and in a lot of cases concerns food. I'll just have to think on this some because there are more instances like this. Polk salad or some say polk salit is another one. I mentioned one time that I had been picking polk salad out of the pasture to give to my sister and there were some yankees present. Of course, they wanted to know what it was and then it was like, you don't really eat it, you're just saying this. I told them I didn't eat it because I don't like greens period, but my sister does, along with tons of people I know who do. Same as with the frog legs, they thought I was kidding.
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Old 08-16-2008, 03:05 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,876,431 times
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When she joined the Navy, she was stationed in Mississippi at one time, but still never tried any of it for the same reasons. (BTW -- I did NOT strangle her for such sentiments, but the thought crossed my mind...! LOL).

LOL!!! SO from IN refused to eat blackeyed peas because he said they tasted like "mud." I will have to admit that I am not a fan of them myself unless they are fresh out of the garden and cooked properly to include the snap greens. I won't eat them canned!! Just naaaaasty.

I can understand how your gf felt when she got dumped in MS. OMG, ick!!! Butterbeans, greens, fried and battered EVERYTHING......blech!!! And all mostly bland, too!! But the okra was good, LOL!! The first office party to which someone brought a crockpot full of butterbeans...I had to ask what they were. Icky, chalky mess!!!

They DID have Tabasco at the tables, so I did survive until I could get back west, LOL!! I was also able to order dried chiles from Pendery's in Dallas, so that helped, too! Thank God they had pinto beans at the grocery store, even back in 1982.

At that time, CO food was also bland, at least what I had back then was.
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Old 08-16-2008, 04:56 PM
 
10,239 posts, read 19,608,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017 View Post
When she joined the Navy, she was stationed in Mississippi at one time, but still never tried any of it for the same reasons. (BTW -- I did NOT strangle her for such sentiments, but the thought crossed my mind...! LOL).

LOL!!! SO from IN refused to eat blackeyed peas because he said they tasted like "mud." I will have to admit that I am not a fan of them myself unless they are fresh out of the garden and cooked properly to include the snap greens. I won't eat them canned!! Just naaaaasty.
Well, we damn sure agree on THAT, Miss Cathy! LOL

Canned black-eyed peas beat nothing at all, I suppose...but they are still the equivalent of that "frozen and battered okra" often sold in restaurants in terms of what is really right, fer gawds sake.

True okra is fresh, as is black-eyed peas...with the snaps! DRIED black-eyed peas will suffice if done right...but yep, canned? ONLY in a true emergency. Defined, for instance, as being stuck up north on New Years Day and it having been carried along as part of a survival kit! LOL

Quote:
I can understand how your gf felt when she got dumped in MS. OMG, ick!!! Butterbeans, greens, fried and battered EVERYTHING......blech!!! And all mostly bland, too!! But the okra was good, LOL!! The first office party to which someone brought a crockpot full of butterbeans...I had to ask what they were. Icky, chalky mess!!!
Actually, I LIKE all that! LOL

But along those lines, there IS a difference, I think, in "battered" (as in heavily to the point of...wellll, that institutional frozen okra.....and "coated or rolled". What do you think?
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Old 08-16-2008, 05:56 PM
 
Location: Dallas
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One Southern food that hasn't seemed to catch on in Texas (and I wish it would) is the boiled peanut. Those things are GOOD.
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Old 08-16-2008, 06:02 PM
 
10,239 posts, read 19,608,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by awecelot View Post
One Southern food that hasn't seemed to catch on in Texas (and I wish it would) is the boiled peanut. Those things are GOOD.

I think you are right, Awecelot. Now, goobers in cokes are part of Texas tradition. As are just plain in-shell salted peanuts. But boiled peanuts? Yeah, you are on the mark. They are not unheard of in Texas, but not really widespread much, either.

I wonder why, in fact, that is so...? As Texas is a major peanut producing state!
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Old 08-16-2008, 06:45 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,876,431 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Well, we damn sure agree on THAT, Miss Cathy! LOL

Canned black-eyed peas beat nothing at all, I suppose...but they are still the equivalent of that "frozen and battered okra" often sold in restaurants in terms of what is really right, fer gawds sake.

True okra is fresh, as is black-eyed peas...with the snaps! DRIED black-eyed peas will suffice if done right...but yep, canned? ONLY in a true emergency. Defined, for instance, as being stuck up north on New Years Day and it having been carried along as part of a survival kit! LOL



Actually, I LIKE all that! LOL

But along those lines, there IS a difference, I think, in "battered" (as in heavily to the point of...wellll, that institutional frozen okra.....and "coated or rolled". What do you think?
Okra has snaps, too? I wouldn't know, as I have never seen okra growing, and we never had okra in the garden. Might be an interesting experiment one year just to see what they're like.

I hate fried okra and most other fried, greasy veggies. I LOVE the sliminess of okra, and will eat fresh or a GOOD quality (yes, it does exist), brand-name frozen okra. To me, battering and frying veggies just ruins them, when they're so good fresh!!!

Green tomatoes are not for frying.....they're used in this house to make a great raw relish (has a combination of red/green tomatoes, lemon/lime juice and hot chiles) or green tomato relish, which is home-canned.

I have made black-eyed peas from dried....and while they are vastly preferable to canned, nothing beats fresh out of the garden. I have had that only twice, at an aunt's house. She grew them in her garden...and they were to die for at the dinner table. But it has been at least 10 years since I have had them in any form or fashion.

This same aunt used to add powdered Coffeemate by the cupful to mashed garden-fresh yellow squash. Blech!! Go figure?!? It was just nasty!!
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Old 08-16-2008, 06:50 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,876,431 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by awecelot View Post
One Southern food that hasn't seemed to catch on in Texas (and I wish it would) is the boiled peanut. Those things are GOOD.
I have seen raw fresh, light green peanuts once in my life....and they were then roasted!

What are boiled peanuts like? Since they are a legume, like pinto beans....do they taste anything like pintos/red/black beans?
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Old 08-16-2008, 07:30 PM
 
Location: North of DFW
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You ain't lived until you get you a big "mess" of purple hull peas and sit on the front porch and "snap" them. By the way...you had to drink a Pearl Beer while you did it.....I was too young to drink...but I would watch my mom do it. Us kids would each sit on the porch rail with a pot and snap and watch the lightning bugs in the front yard and the heat lightning off in the distance.....those were great summer nights!
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Old 08-16-2008, 08:27 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by destin04 View Post
You ain't lived until you get you a big "mess" of purple hull peas and sit on the front porch and "snap" them. By the way...you had to drink a Pearl Beer while you did it.....I was too young to drink...but I would watch my mom do it. Us kids would each sit on the porch rail with a pot and snap and watch the lightning bugs in the front yard and the heat lightning off in the distance.....those were great summer nights!

Good memories! I will choose purple hulls over blackeyes any day myself, of course on New Year's it's always blackeyes. My cousin who had a fairly large farm in east Texas grew purple hulls and he had to have them on the table at every meal (with the exception of breakfast ). I can't tell you the number of times I've sat out on the porch or under a shade tree with a bowl in my lap, big paper sack full of peas on one side of me and another big paper sack on the other side of me to throw the hulls in to later feed to the cows. Shelled many a fresh pinto bean this way too. Talk about something good, fresh shelled pinto beans. If you've never had them, you should try to get some. They cook up so red and pretty and have a little different taste from the dried ones. I used to can them and a prettier jar of beans you'll never find and talk about good eating on winter days!
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